He was a ConservativeMember of Parliament (MP) in Westminster for the Welsh seat of Delyn from 1983–92, but his perceived instability and views on issues like drugs put him out of favour with the prevailing leadership of Margaret Thatcher, and he was never made a Minister. Raffan was one of the few Conservative MPs to support the 'stalking horse' leadership challenge of Anthony Meyer (his constituency neighbour in north Wales) against Mrs Thatcher in 1989, and he then supported Michael Heseltine's challenge to Thatcher the following year.

Raffan stood down from Delyn in the 1992 General Election and abandoned the Tories due to his support for devolution and their resolute opposition to it. After working as a broadcaster in New York and then for Welsh TV Channel HTV, he joined the Liberal Democrats and moved to Scotland.

Raffan was re-elected at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election and he also became a Vice Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. However, in December, 2004 he was subject to wide criticism for claiming abnormally large expense costs from the Scottish Parliament, including travel in his Fife constituency at times he was known to be in Parliament in Edinburgh. The following month he resigned as an MSP, citing health reasons and not the controversy his expense claim had caused as the reason.

He faced further criticism after his resignation for working on ITV Wales despite being "too sick to work".

He was replaced by Andrew Arbuckle, who had been next on the Lib-Dem list for Mid Scotland and Fife in 2003.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have confirmed to the press that Raffan is no longer a party member.[citation needed] He now lives in London, and it was announced on the Vote UK forum that he has now joined the Labour Party.